Lazy Dinner Recipe: Mentaiko & Seaweed Pasta

Japanese + Italian.

Who would've thought it would be a happy marriage? Well, certainly not me!

The first time I heard of Pasta Zanmai, I thought it was ridiculous! I'm a huge fan of Sushi Zanmai but it never crossed my mind to give their fusion sister a try.

Not until one day when I had to meet some friends there for lunch.


"....Imagine Carbonara with its usual creaminess topped with raw salmon sashimi slices, ikura and shimeji mushrooms..."


I fell in love!! OMG. Who is this genius?? I mean seriously...Carbonara plus Sashimi? I love it!

Anyways, when a friend told me to try Mentaiko (Cod Roe) with Pasta, I jumped onto it immediately!

This is the Easiest...Laziest... Yummiest dinner up to date! :D

Mentaiko & Seaweed Pasta

For those of you who don't know how Mentaiko looks like, this is how it looks and you can get it at the Japanese grocer in their freezer section:

Ingredients
Mentaiko (remove the membrane and scoop out the roes)
Japanese Seaweed Powder
Pasta of any kind (I love Penne!)
Salt & Pepper

Optional: Hard-boiled eggs for extra protein


Step 1: Cook pasta as per packaging instructions. Drain, add salt & pepper and put aside. (Do not drain your pasta in cold water)


Step 2: While pasta is still hot, add Mentaiko, Japanese Seaweed Powder and hard-boiled eggs.


Step 3: Serve!


Superrrr easy and sooo yummm. Perfect dinner on a super lazy day. Dinner was ready in less than 30 minutes!


Hope you like this one! Enjoy! :D

How to make Tamago or Japanese Omelette

Wiki always explains it best. Tamago or Japanese omelette are basically grilled egg, which is made by rolling together several layers of cooked egg.


If you read my post on Teriyaki Chicken (Read the post here: Teriyaki Chicken), you may notice I made Tamago or Japanese omelette as one of the side dishes.
 
Here it is if you can't recall:

I love my Tamago salty so I usually avoid the Tamago sushi which is usually sweet. >_<

The bestest tamago I've tasted so far was in a famous shabu shabu restaurant called Restaurant Junidanya at Kyoto, Japan.

We were actually walking around Gion trying to spot a geisha when we saw a long queue outside the restaurant. We thought since there was a long queue, it must be good! So being kiasu, we happily joined the queue. :P

Restaurant Junidanya @ Hanamikoji, Kyoto, Japan

The food is pretty pricey but definitely worth the splurge. The shabu shabu was really good but what really impressed us so much was the tamago. It was really the best I've tasted so far - the layers of egg was so soft and delicate. It's really hard to describe but all I can say is it was amazing!

Unfortunately, I don't know why I didn't take a close up photo of the tamago but this was my awesome beef shabu shabu I had that night:

 

Ever since then, I've been wanting to make my own tamago at home and this was actually my first attempt:

Not too bad huh?

Well, of course it can't beat the bestest tamago I had in japan but I was surprised at how easy it was to make and succeed at first attempt! I need to practice more to make the egg layers thinner and softer. Yosh!


Anyways, if you are interested to make your own tamago, I learned it from Cooking with Dog at Youtube:

Have fun while you are at it!

Enjoy! :D

Lazy Sunday Lunch Idea - Instant Noodles!

Instant noodle is bad for you.


But! If you have it once in a while, it's OK! Lol. Especially on lazy days...well specifically Sundays! >_< Influenced by dad who has always been against instant noodles, I try to avoid it too and even if I had to have it, I try to make it as "healthy" as possible. If that makes sense. Haha.

Anyways, here are some tips I would like to share with you:

(1) Reduce wax in the noodles - Boil water to the amount equivalent of cooking for 2 bowls of noodles. Once boil, transfer half to a bowl and put aside. Cook noodles in the pot until soft. Transfer noodles only into the bowl which was put aside earlier (containing hot water).

(2) Never cook the seasoning in boiling water - That is what I read online and hear say from people. Plus I never cook my seasonings in the pot anyways.

(3) Only have it on lazy days - Instant noodles for me are only for "emergency" days when I'm extremely lazy. The advice is once you have instant noodles, you should not have it for at least the next 3 days.

(4) Drink plenty of water - Well, it's only natural to feel extremely thirsty after due to high salt content in the seasonings. But always try to drink more water after to remove the excess salt in the body.

(5) Make it a complete meal - Add vegetables, eggs or meat to complete the meal. :)


Here's my lunch last Sunday prepared by the boyfriend. Hehe. :D We didn't have any greens left in the fridge and I thought it was very brilliant of him to make use of the extra nori sheets we had from the sushi dinner the other day (Read the post here: Sushi Dinner)

Super yummy lunch prepared by the bf <3 Korean instant noodles complete with perfect poached egg and nori sheets.

The moral of the story today is - Be creative! Always make use of what you have! In this case, to avoid food wastage! :) 

Happy Sunday ya'll! :D

Simple Dinner Idea: Sushi (Tuna, Cucumber, Avocado and Tamago/Egg)

It's too simple, I wouldn't even call it a "recipe". It's an idea! :D


It was one of those days when I'm feeling all lazy and all I really want for dinner was something "light and simple". And sushi came to mind! Nothing fancy - just some tuna, cucumber, avocado and egg.


One thing I like about this dinner idea is that I have the choice to allow my guinea pigs to assemble their own temaki or hand roll which makes my job easier and makes dinner so much more fun right? But unfortunately, we had to rush to go out that night, so I made norimaki or nori roll instead.

Can dinner be anymore easier than this??? :D

It's my first time making nori rolls...and without a sushi mat! Lol. But I guess it worked, as long as I stuffed everything in and it taste great. Forgive me for the horrible looking sushis, I was in a hurry so I had no time to make it pretty! >_< 

Alert! Ugly Sushi!! (Left plate) Good looking ones for the housemate (only 7pcs made it! LOL), (Middle plate) Super ugly ones for ME and (Right plate) Not too bad looking ones for the boyfriend. Hehehe. I secretly fed him some ugly ones while he was driving!! :P

As you can see closeup, the pretty ones were ugly too. LOL. I need to practice more and make sure the ingredients are in the center of the roll next time!! >_<

Anyways, so there you go! Simple dinner idea for the lazy days. Ciao! :P

Simple Dinner Recipe: Teriyaki Chicken

I love teriyaki chicken.



Alright, I love ALL japanese food!! Haha! It's really hard to choose a favourite! >_< But the other night, I had some chicken breast left in the freezer and I thought to myself, "Teriyaki it is!"


Truth is, chicken thigh (with the skin on, of course!!) is the best cut for teriyaki because of the flavor, texture and the juiciness! But because I only had chicken breast, this recipe is perhaps the "healthier" version of teriyaki chicken you can get. First of all, thank you Marc for your excellent recipe (Link)! I love the fact that he has ginger in his recipe!! I love ginger! (By the way, I can't believe my bf actually managed to taste ginger in this! Can't hide anything from this Masterchef >_<)


This is my first attempt at cooking teriyaki but the guinea pigs were really happy that night. Hehehe..well partly because of the sago pudding too! Lol. Anyways, to me, it tasted really good but I would still prefer it with chicken thigh and more teriyaki sauce. Other than that, it was perfect with rice! Thanks Marc!

My lovely stack of "healthy"teriyaki chicken :)

According to wiki, teriyaki is actually the cooking technique used in Japanese cuisine in which foods are broiled or gilled while basted in marinade based on soy sauce, mirin and sugar.


In this recipe, however, there are 4 ingredients in our teriyaki sauce: soy sauce, mirin, sake and honey. This recipe is really easy and goes so well with hot fluffy rice. Yummmm.


This is my version:

Ingredients
- Chicken Breast (use Chicken thigh if you have!)
- Ginger (size is about half your thumb; grated, we only need the juice)
- Teriyaki Sauce (Combine 1 tablespoon of each: soy sauce, mirin, sake and honey)
- Cooking Oil
- Pinch of salt


Step 1: Marinate chicken with a pinch of salt and ginger juice. Make sure you dry the chicken thoroughly with some kitchen towel to remove excess fluid before marinating. Let sit for at least 30 minutes or more in the fridge.

If you are using chicken breast, make sure you cut them with the same thickness so they cook at the same time.

Step 2: Heat oil in a frying pan (medium heat). Add the chicken and cook both sides. Make sure you do not overcook the chicken! 

Step 3: Add 1 tablespoon of sake and cover the pan with a lid. Let the chicken steam for about 2-3 minutes.

1 large chicken leg skin on, deboned (about 12 ounces)

1 teaspoon ginger grated

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon mirin

1 tablespoon sake

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon sake

- See more at: http://norecipes.com/blog/teriyaki-chicken-recipe/#sthash.UKM9V4YD.dpuf

Step 4: Prepare teriyaki sauce. Marc's recipe is 1 tablespoon of each: soy sauce, mirin, sake and honey. Combine well.

Step 5: Remove lid and any excess liquid from the pan. Turn to high heat and add in the teriyaki sauce. Let the mixture boil, while flipping the chicken to make sure every slice is coated with the yummy sauce. The chicken is done once the sauce is almost evaporated and form a thick glaze.

Note: I suspect because I'm using chicken breast instead of the thigh so there were not enough sauce to glaze the meat after it was cooked. So I made extra sauce with 6 tablespoon of each: sake, mirin and soy sauce; and 3 tablespoon of honey because I didn't want my teriyaki sauce to be too sweet. This is trial and error, so feel free to experiment! :)

Step 6: Serve your teriyaki chicken on a serving plate and drizzle some teriyaki sauce on top.

Dinner's ready!

Simple and Awesome Dinner: Teriyaki Chicken, stir-fry beans, tamago and hot fluffy white rice. I wish I made more of the teriyaki sauce so I can just eat it with the rice. Heh!

So, there you have it, super simple dinner which you can prepare for your loved ones!

My guinea pigs actually prefer the chicken breast because it's deemed "healthier". So my experiment was a success! Hehehe. :P

Hope you love this one. Enjoy! :)